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Heritage
Foundation
Carter:
‘Inappropriate’ for U.S. to Block Member of Terrorist Group from
Entering Country
Karen
Jeffers
April
4, 2014
Former
President Jimmy Carter yesterday said he is supportive of letting a
known member of a terrorist group, Hamid Aboutalebi, into the United
States as Iran’s newest ambassador to the United Nations.
Aboutalebi
was a member of the Muslim student group who held 52 Americans
hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran for more than a year beginning
in 1979 during Carter’s presidency.
When
asked in an interview if the United States should block Aboutalebi’s
entrance to U.N. headquarters in New York, Carter told radio station
WTOP: “You know, those were college students at that time, and I
think that they have matured. …I think it would be inappropriate
for the United States to try to block someone that Iran wanted to
choose.”
While
Aboutalebi claims that he was not part of the initial hostage
takeover, he admits that he was a part of the organization that
carried it out. According to Iranian-American activist Banafesh Zand,
Aboutalebi served as a translator at a news conference hosted by the
militant group just weeks after the takeover. He was 22 years old at
the time.
The
Muslim Students Following the Imam’s Line was the militant student
group responsible for the crisis and, according to Bloomberg,
Aboutalebi’s photo is still on their official website.
Unlike
Carter, the State Department has raised “serious concerns” about
the appointment and several members of Congress have also pushed
back.
“It
is unconscionable that, in the name of international diplomatic
protocol, the United States would be forced to host a foreign
national who showed a brutal disregard for the status of our
diplomats when they were stationed in his country,” remarked Sen.
Ted Cruz (R–Tex.) in a statement.
Sen.
Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.) is also wary, saying in a statement that
“Iran’s attempt to appoint Mr. Aboutalebi is a slap in the face
to the Americans that were abducted, and their families. It reveals a
disdain for the diplomatic process and we should push back in kind.”
Since
the hostage crisis, Aboutalebi served as the political director
general of the Foreign Ministry and was Iran’s ambassador to
Australia, Belgium, Italy, and the European Union. He protests that
his past has not prevented him from conducting diplomatic relations
with the West before now. The Department of State has yet to clear
his visa request and legislation to suspend it was brought to the
Senate floor by Cruz on Wednesday afternoon.
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